


Gone

by cinomarsh



Category: Portal (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Artificial Intelligence, Fear, Gen, Human Experimentation, Suspense
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-12
Updated: 2016-05-12
Packaged: 2018-06-07 22:42:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,824
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6828142
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cinomarsh/pseuds/cinomarsh
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Wheatley has really done it this time, and he doesn't know how to fix it on his own.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Gone

"Oh no..."

"Ohhhhh no no no no no...""

"Oh god..."

The voice echoed through the halls of the Relaxation Centre, bouncing off the aging walls and repeating to no one with alarming clarity. With them came a whirring, spinning noise and the occasional squeak, a combination of sounds that could only mean that a very small, very concerned robot was moving along his management rail very quickly.

"Where is he where is he where is he where is he..."

Wheatley was in a full panic. He was racing around faster than he'd ever done before, frantic to accomplish his task before anyone found out he'd made such a huge mistake. Arguably the biggest mistake of his life so far.

Someone was missing.

No one had ever been missing before that Wheatley could remember. And now it had happened. On _his_ watch.

Well, not technically. For it to have been on his watch he would've had to have actually been _watching._ He'd been in a completely different sector, inspecting an interestingly shaped patch of moss, when the subject had finished his test. Wheatley had dropped in to check on the rooms later to find that he had never arrived.

The room had been empty.

"Where could he have gone? Where is there to go?"

Wheatley knew there were a million places to go in the Relaxation Centre, but none of them actually went anywhere. He had to still be here somewhere... Maybe if he found him, he could get him back without having to face Her...

"Hello? Um, test subject? Are you in here?" The stale air offered no reply.

"Well, obviously, everyone here is a test subject but, um, you'll know who you are if you're, well, conscious and- and trying to get out... Which you can't do, by the way! I'm not just saying that, there really is nowhere to go... So you should probably just, y'know, come back to your room..."

He paused, the whirring accompanying his movements slowing and disappearing. All he heard was the monotone hum of the facility.

"Okay, well, I suppose that option doesn't sound particularly... appealing at- at the moment but believe me, mate, it's better than rotting away out here... Not to mention what'll happen if She finds you before I do..."

That last part had been more to himself than to anybody listening. He had hoped to avoid thinking about Her altogether, but apparently that wasn't going to work.

"Please, just- just come back... For your sake and mine..."

Wheatley picked up the pace again, turning down another poorly-lit corridor, his optic darting this way and that.

"Hello?"

"Hello?"

Even he could hear the desperation in his voice. If She found out what he'd done... Well, he'd earn more than a warning this time. A lot more.

He continued on the rail, stuttering into oblivion, for what felt like ages, until he ran into something that stopped him dead in his track.

A panel on the wall opposite the line of doors was propped open.

Wheatley got as close as he dared and peered behind it. The opening led behind the wall and off into Aperture's darkened inner workings, all pipes and tubes and circuits and god knows what else.

He could be anywhere by now.

"Oh no."

Wheatley looked away, trying to collect himself.

"Okay, um, this looks... pretty bad, at the moment, have to admit. Er, alright, I could chase after him- No, that's no good, I'd have to get a longer rail. Ohh this isn't good..."

In response to his thoughts and anxious monologue, a previously unnoticed piece of software decided to make itself known.

"Automatic Emergency Alert activated. Are you currently experiencing an emergency situation within Aperture Science?" A pleasant, calm voice that was not Wheatley's was suddenly asking from within his system.

"Uh- Yes! Yes, absolutely!"

"Initiating emergency alert," the voice continued, "please wait while an operator is contacted."

A new wave of panic hit the little robot.

"Operator? Waitwaitwait, what do you mean, who's-"

_"What do **you** want?"_

Her voice was back, as demanding as ever. Wheatley spun around, looking for the source, before his optic settled on a cobweb-encrusted speaker halfway down the hall.

"H-Hello!" He stammered. The Automatic Emergency Alert was officially Wheatley's least favourite piece of Aperture tech. Well, second least.

_"I was in the middle of a very important test."_

"I'm, er, sure you were, but I, well, it seems... I might've have maybe, possibly, made the teeniest, tiniest little, um... error."

 _"What have you done?"_ The voice was equal parts exasperated, angry and seriously concerned. Wheatley didn't at all like where this was going.

"Funny you should ask, actually, um, because after the last set of t-tests you did- and brilliant job on those, by the way, excellent. Genius, really, i-if you don't mind my saying. Y'know, I was actually-"

_"Get to the point, moron."_

"I'm not a moron!" Wheatley protested on impulse, instantly regretting it.

 _"Well you're not an idiot. That would be an understatement."_ Every word seemed to drip out of the speaker like arsenic.

"R-r-right, well, the subject- the subject f-from those tests sort of, well... he seems to have, in a- in a manner of speaking, um... run off."

The silence dropped like a stone. Then, Her voice; Perfect, cold, and very displeased.

_"He what?"_

Wheatley's vocal processor played a gulping sound effect, entirely without his permission, and the pitch of his words jumped up a notch.

"He ran off."

_"Where?"_

"I, um, wouldn't, I mean, I can't say for absolutely certain where- where he might've gone but I think- well, I can't really get-"

_**"Where is he?"** _

"There's a broken panel here. I think he might've run out behind it." Wheatley squeaked, his words wavering and rushed.

He waited for Her to reply, to order him to do something about it, to fire him, to say anything at all, but instead, a panel a little ways down the hall opened and a mechanical arm, wrapped with wires, snaked out of the darkness towards him. Its shining pincers found Wheatley immediately, grabbing his spherical casing and yanking it from its rail noisily and without ceremony. Bits of steel clattered to the ground as the android was pulled from the hallway into the shadows behind the walls, protesting all the while.

"Nononono, oh god, no..."

He was dragged through pitch-black tunnels that the soft blue light of his optic couldn't even make a dent in. He was bounced off of walls and floors seemingly by accident, but Wheatley had a sneaking dread that this was a planned prelude to whatever was about to come. The words "Emergency Intelligence Incinerator" entered his mind, and he immediately wished they hadn't.

"Please! I can find him, j-just let me try- I-I'll fix it, I swear-"

_" **You'll** fix it?"_

Finally, somewhere below Wheatley the floor opened up and he was dropped down into the bright, sterile, cavernous room that was the central AI chamber. The claw still gripping him held strong, dangling him in front of the looming curve of glinting metal and thick wiring that was Her. She was staring right at him, the harsh yellow optic he remembered from years and years ago still just as full of resentment. He could see other cores attached to Her, their voices silenced but their optics still darting around wildly. Wheatley wondered vaguely if the incinerator would be the better option at this point.

 _"Do you even have the processing power to comprehend the utter **stupidity** of what you've done?"_ She had never sounded like this before, at least not with him. There was an undertone to Her venom now, a sort of pointed desperation. Not even his panicked mind had anticipated the all-powerful ruler of Aperture Science to be afraid. He tried to reply, but his vocal processor seemed to have lost the ability even to grovel, and all he could muster was some trembling and a faint whimper.

 _"The information that subject has on what happens within my Enrichment Centre is highly classified. If he manages to leave, he could jeopardize the future of this facility. He could jeopardize the future of Science itself."_ As She spoke, he could feel the claw gripping him tighten, and he thought he heard something crack.

"P-please-"

_"Please what? Do you actually believe that after this embarrassing display I'm going to let you go back and make matters worse? I don't think so."_

The arm holding Wheatley let go of him abruptly, retracting into the ceiling as he landed on the floor with a clang, and this time he was sure he felt something snap. Unfortunately, the angle he fell at forced him to continue looking at Her, something he very much did not enjoy doing.

He watched as her "head" (he didn't know what else to call it) tilted downwards to look at him for a moment, then lowered until Her chassis was in an almost vertical position. Her optic dimmed and a low, computerized murmur was all he could hear. If Wheatley hadn't known any better (which was usually the case) he could've sworn She was muttering under Her breath.

As he sat there he attempted to plan an escape of his own, but all of his plans fell through the minute he remembered that he was basically immobile by himself. Without his management rail he couldn't go anywhere. If he'd been human, that would've been a different story, but he'd learned very quickly that it was safer to be an android than a living thing at Aperture. You lasted longer, if not always by much.

He was suddenly beginning to understand how that escaped subject must have felt; Helpless, hopeless, at the mercy of an AI entirely void of compassion. He almost hoped that the subject would be able to get out, or at least that the next person brave enough to try would bring him with them.

 _"Found him."_ Her voice informed him as She raised Herself again.

"OH! Oh, that is fantastic, absolutely fantastic, well, no harm no foul! I suppose we can just forge-"

_"Not yet."_

Wheatley shut up.

 _"I have him trapped. The Party Escort Bot will send him into cryosleep again and take him back to the Relaxation Centre. But I have something I want you to do for me."_ The way She said 'you' somehow managed to make him even more apprehensive.

"And, er, what e-exactly might you want me to do?"

_"You're going to go back and you're going to cut the power to his room."_

Wheatley was stunned for a moment.

"You want me to... to just... but if the power's gone won't he, y'know, w-without the life support and, and stuff, won't he... die?" he inquired, nervously attempting avoid the word and failing.

 _"Of course he'll die. I can't have a flight risk loose in my facility. He was no good in tests anyway. Gave up too quickly."_ Her tone was matter-of-fact. Wheatley was beginning to have a sick feeling that he was being tested.

"I- You've got me all wrong, if you think that I could... Well, it's really not my-"

 _"But it is,"_ She cut him off, _"once they're in the Relaxation Centre, they're your responsibility."_

"T-that may be so, but, um, I've never had to... to actually..."

_"There's a first time for everything."_

"I d-don't think that I'm the right core for this, I shouldn't- I-I really don't want to have to- to hurt anyone" He stammered, scared beyond measure of defying Her but certainly not interested in killing someone.

_"What a shame. Oh well. If you can't do your job, there are lighting fixtures in a couple of the testing tracks that need spare parts."_

Wheatley's optic widened.

"NO! No, I'll do it, I'll do it!"

 _"I know you will."_ Somewhere deep inside Her systems, She was smirking at him. He could feel it.

He didn't see the robotic arm this time. Instead of being hoisted off the ground, he felt the arm poking at him, looking for something. As soon as it occurred to him that the arm might've found it, he blacked out.

xx

Wheatley woke up back on his management rail. He had been reattached while he'd been out. He moved back and forth experimentally and discovered that these new parts actually squeaked more than the old parts. On purpose, no doubt.

He looked around nervously, as if She might be hiding around a corner or behind a door, but the dank hallway of the Enrichment Centre was empty and quiet. That is, until a very loud and very close speaker activated.

_"Oh good. You're awake."_

He said nothing, electing to stare at the speaker in terror instead. She didn't seem to mind.

 _"You'd better get going. He's in his room already."_ The casual wording did nothing to mask the intent. She was commanding him.

"Right, yes, that, I'm on it, yes." He nodded profusely, an action involving the use of his entire body that might've even been comical to a different person under different circumstances.

He received no reply. He was left alone in the corridor, but it wasn't the spacious, familiar alone he was accustomed to. It was a thick and heavy alone, weighted down with the knowledge that She was watching him. Maybe he couldn't see any cameras at the moment, but he knew She could see him somehow. Maybe She had cameras in the doorknobs or the panels or something.

So Wheatley whizzed cautiously down the hallway, in the opposite direction of the speaker. He went far slower than usual, not at all eager to arrive.

He slowed reluctantly to a stop in front of a door, staring at the worn, faded wood. He had every room in the Relaxation Centre filed in his memory banks, and there was no question. This was his room.

Wheatley took a deep synthetic breath.

"Alright... I can do this... Definitely..."

He truly didn't want to hurt anyone. He'd seen what She did to them on a regular basis and he felt a sort of sympathy for them. They were as trapped at he felt now, and if he harmed one of them, wouldn't that make him just like Her? How did She do it? Kill countless humans-

Wait a tick. That was it! Humans! They were just humans! Smelly, useless, stupid human beings! They didn't last very long at the best of times, and if he thought about it, he realized that this particular human probably would've gotten himself killed anyway. What kind of moron would try to escape all by himself while She was still in control?

So he sent the command to cut the room's power. It was like thinking, but a little more direct.

"Aperture Science Relaxation Centre Attendant, are you ready to shut off the power to room 3814?" The automated Announcer voice asked him.

"Yes." Wheatley replied.

It was nothing like any of the other deaths he'd seen here. There was no blood, no tears, no pleas. Just a tiny click in his head and it was over. How simple was that?

Her voice interrupted his thoughts once again.

_"Interesting."_

"Um, I... Thanks?"

_"I didn't think you'd do it. You're much more selfish than I thought."_

"Oi! I don't appreciate what, what it is you're suggesting!" Wheatley responded indignantly, almost instantly cursing himself for it. He shut his optic, waiting for Her inevitable rage at being defied. What he received was much more dreadful.

She laughed at him.

It was the eeriest noise he'd ever heard. This sound had never held the warmth or lightness that human laughter was so famous for. This laugh sounded as though it had been hard-wired to be sinister and cruel.

_"You really are a glutton for punishment," She sneered at the android, "I think I'll let you get back to that."_

"What- what does that mean?"

Silence.

"'Course, just leave then, fine..." He grumbled to no one, relieved to be free of her but not enjoying Her habit of leaving him wondering.

Wheatley was shocked he wasn't dead. It made no sense to him why She hadn't crushed him to bits back in Her chamber.

Could She have forgiven him? Even with his limited understanding of pretty much everything, he knew that was practically impossible. Was She testing him? Or was She just waiting until he did something so monumentally stupid that whatever She did to him was his fault alone?

Luckily for him, his die-hard optimism didn't let him dwell on any of these possibilities for more than a nanosecond, and soon he was back to zooming down his management rail, headed nowhere in particular.

He couldn't ignore everything that had just happened, however. In his mind's eye he could still see Her glaring down at him, utterly powerless to do anything but wait.

But even those images passed shortly. He was alone now.

Safe. Relatively.


End file.
